MONTENEGRO DEMOCRACY INDEX 2007
MONTENEGRO DEMOCRACY INDEX 2007

Contributor(s): Miloš Bešić (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics, Civil Society, Government/Political systems, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation, Corruption - Transparency - Anti-Corruption
Published by: CEDEM Centar za Demokratiju i Ljudska Prava
Keywords: Montenegro; independence; democratic institutions; political elite; corruption
Summary/Abstract: In the last couple of years, Montenegrin social and political context has undergone certain changes. Very soon after the referendum was finished and the independence proclaimed all the expectations for Montenegro to become a politically stable society over night turned to be unfounded. The problems that characterize post-communist societies are still a constituent part of the overall social environment in Montenegro. Rather poor democratic institutions, lack of good practice in the democratization of relations in the society, problems of establishment of the rule of law, oligarchic tendencies, corruption and economic problems are only some of the elements of the old/new environment that Montenegrin citizens live in. Political elite in Montenegro has not changed since the beginning of the transformation of Montenegrin society. This elite, that stems from the closed Alliance of Communists of Montenegro, survived in the multi-party system first by transforming the socialist idea and then by supporting Serbian nationalism in the first half of the nineties. In a later stage, however, the same structures won in the conflict with the Serbian regime by advocating neo-liberal ideology. Finally, the idea that these structures so strongly opposed in the nineties – the idea of Montenegrin independence, became their new basis for legitimacy. By successful and timely change of the political matrix, the same structure has remained in power and that is the type of the continuity that we cannot recognize in the practice of any other postcommunist society.

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